Right before we all took off some time for the Thanksgiving holiday and ate way more than needed, the NTCA Board of Directors held its organizational year-end look back/look forward meeting. The agenda is always packed and in addition to approving the budget for the year ahead, this meeting is also where we seat our newest board members or those who were re-elected. This year saw the addition of two fresh faces to the NTCA Board.
Jonathan West, general manager and CEO of Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative (Gainesboro, Tenn.) and cooperative director for the Southeast region, and Dale Merten, vice president and chief operating officer of ToledoTel (Toledo, Wash.) and commercial company director for the Northwest region, were both seated and immediately engaged in the discussions that are critical to the operation of the association and other entities. Our newest leaders were also game to take a few extra minutes to meet with our NTCA team in Arlington, Va., as well as Asheville, N.C., (got to love a virtual/hybrid world) to share a little bit about themselves, their leadership, their companies, and how they interface with NTCA and our teams.
The board also elected new officers for the year ahead. Barry Adair, chief executive officer of Wabash Communications CO-OP (Louisville, Ill.), will serve as chairman, Mike Grisham, president and chief executive officer of Shawnee Communications (Equality, Ill.), will serve as vice chairman, and Roxie Jorgenson, director at MTA (Palmer, Alaska), will serve as secretary/treasurer. We also said goodbye to two terrific leaders. Fred Johnson, chief executive officer and general manager of Farmers Telecom (Rainsville, Ala.), and Allen Hoopes, president of Silver Star Communications (Freedom, Wyo.), both led the association through some significant times for the industry. Their words of wisdom around the board table will be missed.
In addition to getting organized, the board also reviewed the financials for the association, and like everyone else in the world, the financial markets have not been kind to our portfolio. But the association continues to operate within budget and is in a strong fiscal position as we look to the priorities for the year ahead. Those priorities include: ensuring that funding mechanisms are balanced, fair, future-focused, and include active participation from NTCA members; that our Smart Rural Community program under our Smart Communities umbrella continues to strengthen the brand of community-based providers and highlights why they should be top choice for community partnerships; that the association benchmark our progress and activities against others in the association world; and that our education continues to be segmented and delivered in a way that maximizes its usefulness to our participants. The NTCA Rural Broadband PAC was also discussed at length. Facing a new Congress, we know there are new relationships to build. We talked about how the association can continue to support the efforts of the Foundation for Rural Service.
The SMC Board of Directors also met during the week and, similarly, reviewed the budget and financials for the year ahead in addition to tracking our progress on the SMC Strategic Plan, ensuring smooth and member-focused benefits to NTCA member companies, their employees, and families.
Whew. It was a busy few days but we are all excited for the year ahead!